lawrence tevis



TO ALL WHOMIT MAY CONOERN:

@ui-Hh 'tatie @anni @frn Letters Patent No.79,788, dated July 7, 1868.

IMPROVEMENT 1N snor-Hooks.

tite ttgairle maar It in tlghsi-etters'ttent mit hitting partit 'its sans.

Be it known lthat I, E'. LAWRENCE TEvIS, of thecity of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful VImprovement in Shoe-Hooks; and I do'hereby .decla-re that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of 'this'speciiicatiom in which Figure 1 shows my hookhin the-Erst position. Figure .2 showsit-n the position when it-has accomplishedits object. Figure shows the clasp or jaw of my hook.

The nature Vof my invention consists inthe construction of a hook of a peculiar' shape,'by means of ivhieh 'a button-shoe can be easily buttoned without any strain on the button-hole ofthe upper or the button itself.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will how proceed to describe its construction and operation.

I take a piece, P,of brass, iron, or steel wire, which'I flatten from about one-third o f one of its ends toward the other. I give P a slight, soft bend, B, and I'split the at end in two branches, B B', tig. 3. I then'bend said branches as shown inK, figs. 1 and 2.

The piece, P, of wire used must be of a suicient diameter or thickness to have sufficient strengthiin itself4 to resist the lever-strain in the action ot' bnttoning, but the width of the iiattened end must be smaller than the diameter ofthe ordinary shoe-button. l.

The round end R E of piece P being inserted and iirmly setinto a handle, H, my hookis now ready for-use.

When I desire to use, viz, to button my button-shoe, I insert the hook into and through the button-hole, `and I take hold of the button with the bifurcated'jaw of. my hook, sothat each branch, B and B', of it be respectively on each side of the buttons shank; the hook occupiesthen the position shown in iig. 1.

lI then, with the help ofthe hand, holding it inthe position of iig. `1, acton the hook, bringing its handle in the direction of the, arrow, inred ink. The hook thus acted on, is in 'fact a lever, having its fulcrum on the inside of the outerend of the button-hole.l Its bifurcated jaw takes hold of the button from under, and lifts it up, shoving it through the button-hole, and as it (the hook) does notaet at all on the shank ofthe button, there is n o strain on said shank, or'lon the thread by means of which the button is'fa-stened-on tio the upper ofthe shoe. Y

There is no-danger of tearing the button-hole, because the strain on itis almost insignificant, and there is no danger, either, that during the operation thejaw would lose hold of the bottom-because, on the contrary, the more we move the handle toward position 2, .the more we set the bfureatedjmv close against the sha-nkv and under part of theV button. p

T he description I have`just given shows the advantages of my improved hooks on atny ordinary shoe-hooks to be obvious.. The ordinary shoe-hookafter being inserted through the'button-hole, and having hol-d of the button, must be more semicircularlyin a horizontal position, thelever acting with full force on the very shank of thenbutton, and' the strain is so great that if the shoe'iits tight, and the thread fastening' the button to the shoe isn'o't very strong. and thick,V the button will be torn off nine times in ten. v Again, my hook is no more complicated in its construction, and consequently costs no more than the-ordinary hook, from which some differ essentially in form and action.

`I do ,not intend claiming having invented the mode of buttoning shoes with the help of a hook -hookslof the ordinary formhaving been used a long while; but having described myA invention,

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, as a new article of man uilacL Y tare, isi A ,4

A shoe-hook, constructed and operated for the purpose and in the manner above described and-set forth.

n. LAWRENCE rEvI's. n

Witnesses:

M SEMPLE, J. H. BowDEN. 

